Lemon Pudding Cookies are soft, chewy, & perfectly sweet with delightful lemon flavor! Lemon pudding adds a nice twist of flavor & texture to these lemon cookies with white chocolate.
Lemon Pudding Cookies seem to perfectly fix my craving for anything and everything lemon this time of year! There are signs that Spring is coming- the snow is melting, green leaves are starting to peek through and my kids are wearing shorts. Wait – they’d wear shorts even if it was 35 degrees, so scratch that as a sign of impending Spring! I added lemon zest to these soft and chewy pudding cookies because it brightens the flavors. I love the vanilla chips in them too – they pair so well with the lemon.
What are lemon pudding cookies?
This recipe is a simple adaptation to my already beloved Orange Cream Cookies recipe. With a few little changes, we get a lot of great results. The tangy-sweet cookies really hit the spot in Spring or Summer. These cookies are so good and enjoyable you may find yourself eating a handful at a time, but it’s okay because this recipe makes over 3 dozen so there should be enough to last a few days.
LEMON PUDDING COOKIES INGREDIENTS
Sugar: We need 1 cup of granulated sugar to give these cookies the sweetness and chewiness that they need.
Butter: We will need to use 1/2 cup of softened butter to add richness and fats into the cookie dough.
Egg: We need 1 egg to help bind the cookies together perfectly.
Sour Cream: We want to use 1/3 cup of sour cream because it adds moisture and richness without leaving taste. It thickens the dough and bakes away leaving nothing but goodness in its wake.
Milk: Using 2 tablespoons of milk we can thin down the cookie dough enough to make it easily scoopable.
Salt: This is a natural flavor enhancer and we need 1/2 teaspoons of salt to really make the flavor of the cookie incredible.
Baking soda: We need 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda to help give these cookies the leavening that they need to puff up as they bake.
Flour: The base of our cookie dough is 2 cups of all-purpose flour.
White Chocolate Chips: We need a 12 ounce bag’s worth of white chocolate chips (about 2 cups). Use your favorite brand.
Pudding Mix: Using a box of pudding mix makes cookies soft and chewy, but a small box of the lemon pudding will make these cookies taste incredible and give them a yellow hue.
Lemon Zest: We want to use the zest from a lemon (about 2-3 teaspoons of zest) to give these cookies a refreshing taste.
How to Make Lemon Pudding Cookies
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add in the egg and the milk.
In another bowl, combine the sour cream, pudding mix, salt, and baking soda.
Add the flour and the sour cream mixture to the creamed butter and egg mixture, mixing together until smooth.
Fold in the white chocolate chips and the lemon zest.
Optionally, you can add in a single drop of yellow food coloring to get a nice color.
Drop the cookies by the rounded tablespoon onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake in the oven at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes.
Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!
LEMON PUDDING COOKIES
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup softened butter
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 2 TBSP milk
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- 2 cups flour
- 12 oz white chocolate chips
- 3.4 oz lemon pudding mix
- zest from 1 lemon about 2-3 tsp
Instructions
- Cream together sugar and butter. Add egg and milk.
- In separate bowl, combine sour cream, pudding mix, salt and soda.
- Add flour and sour cream to butter mixture, mixing until smooth.
- Mix in white chocolate chips and lemon zest. Add 1 drop of yellow food coloring if desired.
- Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.
- Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
How long are lemon pudding cookies good for?
If stored in an airtight container at room temperature, these cookies will last a week. If stored in an airtight container in the freezer, these cookies can last up to 3 or 4 months. Just thaw at room temp before eating.
What does pudding mix do to cookies?
Adding a box of dry pudding mix into the cookie dough batter will help to make the cookies nice and chewy as well as soft and flavorful. Not only that but it helps to retain some moisture so the cookies taste really moist and not dry or stale, even as the cookies age.
What can I use in place of pudding mix?
If you don’t have pudding mix, you can add a few simple ingredients to these cookies to replace the store-bought mix. Add in 2 TBSP cornstarch, 3 TBSP sugar and either 1 tsp lemon extract or 3-4 drops of lemon essential oil. You can also add in 2-3 drops yellow food color, if you’d like.
If you love these Lemon Pudding Cookies, be sure to try some of our other favorite cookie recipes too!
- HOT COCOA COOKIES
- DOUBLE CHOCOLATE MINT COOKIES
- BANANA CREAM COOKIES
- RASPBERRY MELTAWAY COOKIES
- COPYCAT SWIG SUGAR COOKIES
- THE BEST PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
- VALENTINES SUGAR COOKIES
- SOFT CHRISTMAS SUGAR COOKIES
- PEANUT BUTTER BUTTERFINGER COOKIES
- ZUCCHINI COOKIES
- SUPER SOFT SUGAR COOKIES
- BLACKBERRY OATMEAL COOKIES
- MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
- BANANA CREAM PIE COOKIES
- CHERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Lemon pudding cookies are a simple cookie recipe made with boxed pudding mix. Adding in white chocolate chips and fresh lemon zest these cookies are sure to brighten anyone’s day!
CJ Burton-Fox says
If Lwmon loaf is any indication- these cookies should be a blast, look forward to making them tomorrow.
Alison says
I hope you love them CJ!
Jeanne says
Do you want use instant pudding, or the kind you cook?
Nellie says
Yep, instant pudding works best!
Nancy J Sickmann says
At what point are you to add the lemon zest? It is in the list of ingredients, but there is nothing in the directions as to when they are added. Or is zesting the lemon
just to set the mood?
Nicole says
the instructions state to fold in the lemon zest with the white chocolate chips, but you’re welcome to zest extra lemons if it helps set the mood for these delicious cookies 🙂
Siara says
Planning on making this soon! Could I exchange the lemon zest with pure lemon extract?
Nicole says
I’m sure you could, but use it sparingly as the flavor in extract is way stronger than in zest